The Life

Reading: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26 (NIV)

Observations: Jesus spoke these words to his friend Martha when she was grieving the death of her brother. They are strange words, otherworldly words. How can a person never die, and yet die but live? Is He talking about two different kinds of death?

But wait. I am focusing on death in these verses. That was not the focus of Jesus. His focus was always on life. He did not call Himself “not-death.” He called Himself the resurrection and the life.

Believing in Him is thelife, living no matter what, living by believing. Death is never the focus of Christ.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I so often focus on the negative, but You are the forever positive one. You proved that death is in Your power by raising Lazarus, and by even after You were dead Yourself, rising up. Death could not hold down the Life, and the life You give, true life, makes death not an end, not the last word, but only a step through a veil in the eternal life You have already given us.

You want us to truly live, not fearing death, but living to the full, with our eyes no longer fixed on mortality but with our eyes fixed on You—living by believing—resurrecting what had been dead in us and receiving immortality. You are the resurrection and thelife. Help me to truly live, Lord.

Exercise/Action: Stop fixating on fatalism and endings. Fixate instead on Jesus, and live the true life, abundant and full, that only He can give.